


A Good Man

by Blakpaw



Category: Batman (Movies - Nolan)
Genre: Bane is in love, Bane is just a big softy, Bane knits and sews, Bane love the sweet baby child that is Talia like shes his daughter, But it's unrequited and Bane is basically just crushing on her, Death of a Parent, Gen, He is vaguely described showing up at the very end, Maybe a little if you read between the lines with Bane and Melisande, Ra's is basically only just barley mentioned, Slight segment of a character giving birth, Stand in father role, but in a platonic way, no romantic feelings really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-06-25 12:34:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15640866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blakpaw/pseuds/Blakpaw
Summary: He closed his eyes, and maybe he couldn’t smile at the time, but he tried. He thought that maybe he could do what Melisande always wanted of him. He could leave the Pit. he could leave, and be the good man she had always wanted him to be.





	1. The Rice Has no Price

Bane knows few things, he is willing to admit this. His knowledge of the outside world is limited to stories, his perception of people is limited to the people of The Pit and his books. Meeting Melisande was new in a lot of ways to him, she brought many things he had never before seen. For a start, he now knew truly what a woman looked like, and secondly he knew how a woman looked swollen and heavy with child, as she was now. She resides in the cell next to his, and they had spent many days in silence when she arrived, her curtains closed and he had known little more then a glimpse of her. He had heard overnight, once, that the doctor and her spoke of how little food she had, not enough to support herself and her growing infant both.

So the next day Bane slid a bag of rice through the bars of his cell, under the sheets around her room, when he was certain she was resting. He has always been told he has a bleeding fools heart, he often feeds the hungry and protects the weak, when he feels it is necessary. Not always, he knows when it is worth intervening and when it is unworthy. A mother with child is worthy of food, in his eyes. He may not know much, but he knows enough to know this. It is that same day that he finds himself sitting on his cot, wrapped in his day cloths, and reading a book, only to be interrupted in his reading when the curtains move to the side, Melisande peering at him through the small gap she had made. He sees distrust and confusion in her eyes, and she points the the bag of rice he had brought, and she says in her stern, cold, and untrusting voice “Why have you brought me this? I did not ask for it. I will not give you anything for it!” she spits at him in thick Arabic.

Bane gently closes his book, setting it under his flat pillow “I have given it to you because you have spoken of hunger. You speak of how you and the child need more food.” he responded in Arabic calmly. She glared darker “And you expect me to believe there is no pay for it!? I have been told how you people work here! I am no fool. I owe you nothing, fowl man!” she snarled, so much anger and venom in her voice. Bane nods a bit, not looking her in the eye, in this place that is a high respect, like one does not look a feral dog in the eye. He responds gently again “You are incorrect to assume I wish payment. I’ve no need for anything you could offer me.” he told her, and picked up his book to read. She stared him down with another looks of distrusts, and confusion, before she let the curtain drop and he returned to reading.

He knows then, the next day, that she had spoken with the doctor about him. Many people do. To them he is a mystery that must be solved. They always ask the same thing; what has this man done to end up in this prison? The answer is always the same; he was born. Yes, his greatest crime was living. He knows she has asked the doctor, because the next day, after returning form battering for another bag of rice for himself to eat, he finds her sitting with the curtain drawn to enough to show some of her, a crack the shows only a section of her body, one eye gleaming through the dim, curtained room of hers. He tilts his head to her in silent question, and she makes a motion for him to sit, a stern look in her eyes. He nods once and sits across from her, moving at a leisurely calm pace.

“You are a strange man. They say your name is Bane, and you have no crime. Yet, that has never answered why you give me food expecting no payment. Nothing is free, and even less so here.” she spoke it like and accusation, as if still waiting for him to name a price.

“Because. I am curious of you as you must be curious of me.” he told her softly “I have never seen a woman before, not a real one.” he admitted openly “As I have never seen a baby. I am often told I am to curious for my own good.” he smiled gently under the wrappings around his face “So, I suppose I simply wish to know what will happen, yes? And as I also said before, I have no use for anything you could offer. I have what I need, and I need no more.” he tilted his head slightly, eyes still not meeting her as he kept as respectful as possible. She glanced him over, and tilted her head back definitely “My Name is Melisande.” she told him confidently. He smiled at her “I am Bane, as you know.” he responded softly.


	2. A Conversation Whilst Knitting

Time passed and they grew closer, Bane knew he had gained Melisande’s trust when she was a month from giving birth, she had opened up to him. She spoke of the father to her child, of her own crime being that of love. She would whisper stories to him of the world above, many talked of it but none were so open as her, she spoke of how it is just as terrible as it was wonderful above the ground. She spoke of movies and story books, things called cartoons and T.V’s. He was fascinated by it, and she filled in the gaps to his knowledge of society. He told her about growing up in hell, he told her how he learned to fashion knives from stone, and hide them in his one comfort, Osito, whom still sat under his bed for safe keeping. He spoke of how he learned to speak the languages of every man in the pit, and he fondly remembered how he demanded the elders, who were so soft for him, to teach him to write.

Bane has also found he enjoy’s stitching and knitting, Melisande had taught him how after had had interrupted a fight that had ended with his day clothes being torn. She showed him how to mend it with string. She left the curtain separating their cells open more now, so he could see all of her and speak with her, and he had caught her one night knitting. He asked her to show him, and he spent much of his time knitting and sewing now. He had made toys for her coming child to pass the time. He had taken spare sheets from the supply crates and carefully marked out shapes with coal and cut them out with his knife until he has enough material to make what he wished.

Perhaps the sheets were not the softest material, but they would make do. He had studied Osito closely, having also mended his well loved body as much as he dared, and made an off white, slightly crude, replica of the bear. He presented it to her, and she cried gently as she thanked him. It confused him, but he knew he had done well, and she let him rub her shoulder as she leaned on the bar, holding the bear to her belly slightly. Together, they made a blanket for the babe as well, something to swaddle and cuddle it in.

They had been working on the, admittedly, over large lavender and creamy yellow blanket, talking softly, when she said, rather suddenly Melisande said “You’re a good man, Bane… and so I… I must ask… as the only man I truly have found it in me to trust down here, that... that if something were to happen to me… you must take care of my child. Do you promise me you will take care of them…?” she looked back up at him, her eyes had pain in them, pain and trust. He was admittedly caught off guard, but he nodded, slowly “Of course, my friend. But know I will do everything in my power to keep you together with them.” he told her sternly. She laughed and nodded, before sighing a again, “...No matter what, promise me someday you will help them escape here. And that… and that you will be their with them. Among these vile men you do not belong, my friend. You are a good man, and a kind man. You don’t belong here, and neither does this child. So promise me someday you will leave with them?”

He looked at her and sighed gently “I will do what I can, Melisande. But you know that even I can not guarantee as such. But rest easy knowing I will try.” he reached through the bars and gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. She ducked her head down but nodded, and the went on knitting the blanket.


	3. In The Middle of the Night

Melisande has said the birth of her child would be painful. Bane knew this to be a fact. However, he is still caught off guard when he is woken in the dead of night by the scream of a woman, high and pained. He is up on his feet in a panic within seconds. It takes him prying the sheets from the wall separating them and seeing Melisande to start understanding. She looks to him, face contorted and going pale. She need not say anything before he is rushing for the doctor, other men are beginning to wonder out of their cell, confused and dazed by the sudden screaming. Many lose interest fast and return to bed, but others begin to wander around towards the sound.

Their curiosity is killed when Bane rushes past, dragging the, thankfully sober, doctor past and towards Melisande’s cell. He pushes his way inside and against the door so no man would dare even think about trying to come inside, and he has no idea what to do other then try his best to protect this cell until all is clear. Eventually the Doctor has him building a small fire to heat up a large bowl of water, keeping it warm but not hot.

Hours pass. The moon sets, and the sun rises, and begins to reach its peak over the pit, before the next sound reaches his ears. A second cry, gurgled and small, and loud. Eventually the doctor turns, and Bane feels frozen, wide eyed and stiff as the man walks with a bloodied and wriggling baby towards him. He holds the bowl still as the baby is cleaned, and he finds it hard to pry his gaze away from the tiny thing that seems to have endless breath in its lungs.

It is a girl. She already has a small layer of dark hair on her head, her eyes are screwed shut and her gums are on display. She is so small, she is not extremely plump, but a little thin. Already, Bane feels concern, he is aware that Melisande has not always had enough food, but he hopes that the baby gains weight fast. After the Doctor confirms her heart beats well, any liquid is expelled from her tiny lungs, and her body is in good enough condition, he hands her to her mother, and Bane moves to he may leave. However, he returns to his space in front of the door as soon as he is gone, and he can not bring it in himself to stop staring at mother and child.

Melisande, understandably, looks tired, covered in sweat, pale and tired from effort. Slowly the child relaxes in her arms, bare and naked from head to toe. She carefully instructs Bane to make a cloth diaper from the curtain he had ripped down before, and he helps her carefully fold and tie it around the baby, before she is swaddled in the thick warm blanket they had made for her. It becomes silent, minus Melisande's ragged breaths and the occasional grunt or other sound from the baby. He sits back down, unsure of what to do, but he has not yet been told to leave, and he is still to on edge to leave even if she had wanted him to.

After nearly and hour, she speaks softly, looking at the sleeping newborn in her arms, “Talia.” she says, reaching out to brush her trembling fingers carefully against her head, “Her name shall be Talia al Ghul.”

Not long after, she passes the child to him, shows him how to hold her, and proceeds to pass out as he holds her child.


	4. Father's Love, With no Father

Laughter rattles through a cell and its neighbor, three sets of joyous mirth. One gentle and soft, refined and elegant, another deep and full of heart and gentleness, and the third like twinkling bells. Bane is on his back in his cell, tilting his head to watch Talia, who is in a similar position on her mother's lap, gurgling and giggling as the adult’s laughter dies down, her tiny plump fist in her mouth as she suckles on her middle and index knuckle, the off white, sheet made Teddy bear in her other hand..

Bane has found he’s fallen in love. Melisande says she cannot blame him, Talia is to precious to not love. He has spoken to her about it, confused at this connection he had felt. She told him many fathers feel the way he does. He finds that her description of fathers feels accurate to what he feels, the fierce need to protect and care for her, the want to keep her fed and healthy, and the want to make her laugh as she is now all the time. Her laughter is contagious, when she starts laughing he can’t help but laugh as well, and her mother could hardly fight it either.

He reaches through the bars, still on his back and his head tilted back to look at her, and her gently hold a hand out for her. She wiggled until she gets her free hand around to grip his hand. Her whole fist only fits around a few of his fingers, the bear on her tiny chest, the first time she had latched onto his finger he had panicked a bit, but had been so careful, he’d been frozen stiff the entire time he had held her in his arms. He knows he is not her father, he has promised to one day find him, so she may meet him, but for now he does not mind taking the role of a caretaker. For Talia, for Melisande, he will be a good man. He will do what he must. She wriggles until she’s off her mother’s lap and manages to crawl through the bars of his cell, as she often does. They’ve fortified the cells to the front doors, so she may only pass between their cells and now out the front, for her safety.

He carefully picks her up, placing her on his chest. He has found her is like her personal playground, she enjoys climbing across him, just as much as she enjoys laying on his chest as she finds sleep. She snuggles and wriggles around until she gets comfy on his chest, and he carefully unwraps the cloth around his face, draping it over her as best as he can to make a temporary blanket for her. He sighed softly, tilting his head back again to look at her mother, smiling softly again. She gives a sad smile back, mouth a thank you, and moves so she her self can lay down for a nap, so she could close her eyes and sleep.

Caring for Talia has been taxing on her, no matter how much Bane helps, even if his help isn’t always the most useful, he is very uniformed in the caring for any sort of child or infant. He ran his hand across the gentle stubble on Talia’s head, murmuring the lullaby he often heard her mother sing to her, the toddler gently suckling on her thumb as she slept.


	5. Mother Leaves, Father Comes

Talia was in his arms, curled up tight against his chest as he cradles her head to his shoulder, patting her back oh so gently, rocking oh so slightly. Melisande was dead. She was gone. He murmured the words to her lullaby to Talia, silent still Talia who hasn’t done anything since he’d swooped her up in his arms, her bloody knife still in hand, her body curled around is carefully. Melisande was dead, Talia’s mother was dead, and Bane’s closest friend had perished.

Talia did not, she was to strong for that, Bane did not cry, he was to used to death for that. They stayed close, a silent promise for both of them to protect each other. Melisande was gone, but Bane has made a promise and he refused to break it.

With in months of his caring for her, things had gone wrong. They knew. They knew Talia was a girl. He pushed her tiny body up the wall, and they pulled at him, so many bodies, but he refused to move tell he knew she was gone. He commanded her to go as she turned to stare at him, her face blank. But he knew. He knew she was hurting in side. She leaped, and she flew, so beautiful, like a bird, and then she was gone. He smiled as he felt tears of joy build in his eyes, as she left him.

They tore him to pieces, but he found comfort in his dying. Maybe he couldn’t do everything Melisande has wanted, but he had done what he could to save her daughter. He sat, paralyzed by his pain, barely able to breath, and he lay dying, knowing he was a good man. He always wanted to be a good man, and he could die knowing he was one.

The days drifted and melted, and he did not know how long he lived, to long, he suffered and bled and hurt, unable to scream, to move, his breath wheezing from him with effort. His death was painful, but he knew he was dying a good man.

And then he was there. She had his eyes, he realized, as the man stared at him. Yes, in that exact moment he knew who he was.

Talia's true father, the rightful man to the title.

He closed his eyes, and maybe he couldn’t smile at the time, but he tried. He thought that maybe he could do what Melisande always wanted of him. He could leave the Pit. he could leave, and be the good man she had always wanted him to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's super short, but honestly it was supposed to just be a one shot in the first place. Eitherway, I hope you guys enjoyed! :D
> 
> This was inspired by a role play me and a friend where doing, and a line came up where Bane said:  
> "....That is what she wanted of me... a good man... I was a good man in her eye, I think." from the look in his eyes it was clear it wasn't exactly Talia he was referring to, he took a slow breath "I thought I was a good man too...."


End file.
